World of War Wiki:Bots
This page shows you what bots are and how they help this wiki. Overview This shows the basic part of what bots are. Meaning A bot (the name of which comes roBOT) is a piece of script, a user, or something similar, which performs a single or a group of tasks, automated or semi-automated. All bots allowed here are either at least as helpful as a user when programmed, or for certain-to-come tests. Potentially Necessary Jobs This heading lists jobs that a bot could do if a currently properly-operating bot is not available for the job. If a job you want your bot to perform is not listed here, request an administrator (see the founder at User:Razgriz Ghost) to allow your bot to perform the task. *Adding the proper infobox template and row titles for all of the pages in the Units and Weapons categories (there are dozens). *Making sure the main wiki rules are being followed, and warning, and then blocking, anyone who breaks them. *Correcting spelling and grammar mistakes. *Making lots of pages, and adding content to them (it is advised a semi-automated bot should be used). Making Your Own Bot It is likely at this point you will want to make your own bot. If this is so, follow on. How To Create First, you should put up a vote over whether your bot should be made, called Vote:Botname. If you know how to use HTML, make a poll. If you don't, use Heading 2 in order to make a Yes line and a No line. If you want to, you can vote. Afterwards, send a message here requesting permission. If accepted, make a new account for the bot and request a bot flag from Wikia. Designing After bot flagging succeeds, you must start planning exactly what the bot will do. You can ask anyone on this wiki for advice on how your bot could work, or you could put up a user blog. You need to work out exactly ''what your bot will do. For example, a bot which "looks for offsite links" ''is not very detailed, and will probably fail. However, a bot which "looks for offsite links, and uses a list of previously-used links to take appropriate action to the user, and messages an admin if a new offsite link is used, and will look for a specific message by an admin to allow the offsite link as an exception" is a detailed bot, and if you can perform the next step, it will probably be a success - at least to the test process. Programming After designing what the bot will do, the most obvious part is implementation (also known as coding). After all, an uncoded bot is as bad as none. You can use any coding language available to implement your bot. C-Free5 is a recommended download, which uses the languages C and CPlusPlus (C++). Request Bot Access Levels Request access levels for the bot from an administrator, if necessary. For example, you may want your bot to be able to delete pages or block users. A chat-moderating bot is known as a chatmodbot, and a bot with administration abilities is known as an adminbot. Test Your Bot Don't forget, a bot which damages the wiki is worse than a non-existent bot. You have a 24-hour period to test your bot. If the bot malfunctions, request your bot be blocked. If the bot has to be blocked, review the bot, improve it, and request another test period. Release Your Bot Congratulations, if an administrator has approved your bot. You may now release it to the entire wiki.